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British troops fire into a mob, killing five men and leading to intense public protests .
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American Revolution: War of independence fought between Great Britain and the 13 British colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America.
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Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation, the first U.S. constitution.
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Manifest Destiny: US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.
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First ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, are ratified.
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Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the third president in Washington,
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James Madison is inaugurated as the fourth president .
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Spain agrees to cede Florida to the United States.
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Congress authorizes Indian removal from all states to western prairie
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Texas declares its independence from Mexico .
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Mexican War: U.S. declares war on Mexico in effort to gain California and other territory in Southwest.
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Oregon Treaty fixes U.S.-Canadian border at 49th parallel; U.S. acquires Oregon territory .
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Women's rights convention is held at Seneca Falls, N.Y.
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President Taylor dies and is succeeded by his vice president, Millard Fillmore.
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Abraham Lincoln is elected president.
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South Carolina secedes from the Union. Followed within two months by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.
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Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana secede. Confederate States of America is established .
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The Confederate States of America is formed with Jefferson Davis, West Point graduate and former U.S. Army officer, as president.
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April 12, 1861 - Pierre Beauregard open fire with 50 cannons upon Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War begins.
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Civil War: Conflict between the North (the Union) and the South (the Confederacy) over the expansion of slavery into western states.
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President Lincoln sends out a Proclamation of Blockade against Southern ports. For the duration of the war the blockade limits the ability of the rural South to stay in good supplies in its war against the industrialized North.
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November 8, 1861 - The beginning of an international diplomatic crisis for President Lincoln as two Confederate officials sailing toward England are seized by the U.S. Navy. England, the leading world power, demands their release, threatening war. Lincoln then gives in and orders their release in December. "One war at a time," Lincoln says.
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A costly mistake by Grant results in 7,000 Union casualties in twenty minutes during an offensive against fortified Rebels at Cold Harbor in Virginia.
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- Grant's forces begin a general advance and break through Lee's lines at Petersburg. Confederate Gen. Ambrose P. Hill is killed. Lee evacuates Petersburg. The Confederate Capital, Richmond, is evacuated. Fires and looting break out. The next day, Union troops enter and raise the Stars and Stripes.
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Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders his Confederate Army to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at the village of Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Grant allows Rebel officers to keep their sidearms and permits soldiers to keep horses and mules.
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President Abraham Lincoln dies at 7:22 in the morning. Vice President Andrew Johnson assumes the presidency.
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John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed in a tobacco barn in Virginia.
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Remaining Confederate forces surrender. The Nation is reunited as the Civil War ends. Over 620,000 Americans died in the war, with disease killing twice as many as those lost in battle. 50,000 survivors return home as amputees.
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- The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, is finally ratified. Slavery is abolished.
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Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving blacks the right to vote.
